Missing
by Eevil Hero
Summary: [one shot] Hayner keeps feeling that something is missing in Twilight Town. But what?


A/N: My first one shot ever. kinda sad. Anyway, please read and review! Mostly review! I don't care what you say (as long as it's not too mean) but please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

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The sun was setting over Twilight Town. Hayner and his friends were sitting on top of the clock tower, letting their feet hang. Each of them had sea-salt ice cream clutched in his or her hand, licking it contentedly.

Hayner paused and looked down at the small red orb that he held in his other hand. He held it up in the light of the dying sun. He felt his other friends so the same with their own different colored crystals. They had done this on more than one occasion, but this time something didn't feel quite right to Hayner.

He looked to his left at Olette and then looked past her at the empty space.

She noticed his gaze. "What's wrong?"

He paused, unsure of how to explain it. "Do you ever feel like…maybe something's missing?"

She smiled. "Like what?"

He shook his head, eyes on the place beside her. "I don't know…It just…sometimes it feels like…someone else should be here with us."

She giggled. "What? Like Seifer?"

Pence laughed and Hayner grinned though he knew she didn't get it. For the moment he shrugged it off. It was only a passing feeling. …Wasn't it?

xXx

The next day, Hayner got to the Usual Spot before any of the others. He lay on the couch for a while, hands behind his head, staring at the sky. He felt totally relaxed. The feeling lasted about thirty seconds before he got bored and decided to try his hand at darts.

He stood and pulled the darts out of the board, walking a good distance away before throwing them. He didn't think he was _terrible_, per say, but he wasn't anything close to good at it. Every single one hit the target, but none of them got farther in than the second or third ring. He smiled sheepishly, silently telling himself to get better.

He heard laughter behind him. "Practice? You? Nah, you'll always suck."

He grinned. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I probably will." He laughed.

"Who are you talking to?"

Hayner turned around to see Olette and Pence walking in. He turned around, looking behind him, but no one was there.

"I…I thought I heard…"

Olette laughed. "Same old Hayner."

"Yeah…" he said softly. "Sure. Same old me…" He shook his head slightly to clear it and grinned at them, thinking, 'I must be hearing things.' He smiled to himself. 'Maybe a phantom is haunting me.' Then, after a moment he asked, "So. Wanna go to the beach today?"

xXx

A few days passed and Hayner forgot about the phantom boy. It was summer and he needed to enjoy it while it lasted. Especially since he knew in a few days time Olette would start bugging him about their summer assignment.

He sighed, thinking of school. He hated school. But, he supposed, he had detention to look forward to with his best friend.

He blinked. No, that wasn't right. He'd always done detention alone, hadn't he? Neither Olette nor Pence would ever break the rules with him. So then, who was he thinking of?

"Hey Hayner, come'ere," Pence called. "I just got some pictures developed. There are a few of all of us in here."

Hayner grinned and walked over to him, looking over his and Olette's shoulders at the photos. They were looking at one of Hayner, face down in the dirt with Seifer standing over him.

"Aww, Pence, did you have to take that picture?" Olette said. "Poor Hayner will be so humiliated if anyone sees it." She and Pence laughed. Hayner looked at it closer.

"When was this?" he asked. "I don't think I remember fighting Seifer…"

"Sure you don't," Pence replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"But I thought…didn't someone else fight him…?"

"You just don't want to admit you lost," Olette said matter-of-factly. She picked up the photo and put it at the bottom of the stack in her hand. "Ooh, this is a nice one." The next one was a picture of her, Pence, and Hayner standing in front of the fence by the old mansion.

"Wasn't someone else with us?" Hayner asked.

"Yeah. Bobby. He took the picture for us, remember?"

"No, no. I mean wasn't someone else in the picture?" He reached forward and took it from her, carefully holding it by its edges. "Wasn't…wasn't Roxas with us?" The name sounded odd to him. He wasn't even aware he _knew_ anyone by that name. It just sort of…came to him.

His friends glanced at one another. "Hayner…who's Roxas?" Olette asked. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

Hayner stared at the photo. "I…I don't know…"

"Was this Roxas kid a friend of yours?" Pence questioned.

"I don't know…If he was I…I guess I forgot about him…But I could have _sworn_ there was another kid in the picture with us." The others shook their heads, worried looks on their faces.

Hayner tilted the picture slightly. The morning light struck it and for an instant, just an instant, he could have sworn that there _was_ someone else there, standing beside him. A kid their age with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. A kid with an odd fondness for the colors black and white. And then he was gone and it was just the three of them again.

He looked up at his friends, feeling guilty for making them worry, and handed the picture back to Olette with a smile. "I guess not. I was probably just imagining things." He grinned sheepishly. "So, want to go shopping? I know Olette's been wanting to for days. It seemed only right, you know?"

Olette yipped with glee, her worry forgotten. Pence groaned as she dragged him off, Hayner following a few steps behind at his own pace, hands in his pockets.

He knew he wasn't making things up. How he knew he couldn't have said. But it didn't matter. He knew that, one day, he would remember Roxas completely. Maybe the others would, too. But for now he put all thought of him aside, his mind at ease.

He couldn't cry for the absence of his friend, though a small part of his mind wanted to. It wasn't that he didn't care and it wasn't that the boy wasn't important enough to him, because he was. But Hayner refused to be upset until he remembered.

As he walked, he felt a gently breeze fly by and breathed in deeply, taking in the salty air. Roxas wasn't gone, not completely. Even if, in some part, Hayner remembered him, then he could remember everything. And he would…one day…


End file.
